T'an Chun-pei, an officer of the Premier button and Governor of Yunnan, reports an important ease where aman had been found guilty of having murdered his own brother, sister-in-law, and two nephews, thus killing four members of the victimised family, and the sentences which have been adjudged the murderer and his accomplices. Owing toa despatch received by the memorialist from Wang Wei, sub-annam, detailing the incidents of the refect. of Amichou, in the province of
above named murder, and in consideration of the case being, under the circumstances, one of extraordinary importance, memorialist gave immediate orders to the said sub-prefect to send the murderer and his accomplices and such witnesses as could be found up to Yunnanfu, the capital of the province, in order that the case might be tried under the personal supervision of memorialist himself. The men concerned in the case having been taken under strong escort to the capital, memorialist ordered Teng Hsing-lan, senior prefect of Yunnanfu, to preside ver the trial of these men. This having been done by the prefect Teng Hsing-lan, and his associate judge the chehsien-elect of Chienshuihsien, Shih Chien-chung, and the various facts of the case having been elicited from the prisoners, memorialist commanded that the case should go up before the higher tribunal (Provincial Judge) for verification. Nothing farther having been added to what had already been confessed, memori ist personally went over the case having his associates the Provincial Treasurer and Judge to assist him. The following is the result of memorialist's investigations. Tsao Ssu-yi, his wife Tsao Fu-shih, and his two sons Tsao Siao-shou and Tsao Siao-erh were the murdered victims and lived within the environs of Amichou. The murderer, as well as the instigator of the murders, was TsaoSsii-siu, the elder brother of the murdered Tsao Ssii- The accomplices were Tsao Ssu-hsien, Tsao Ssu-an and Teso Ssu-we (members of the same clan), Ch'8o Ching-fang, Tuan Chin-ch'van Chow Ts'ai and Fu Siao-ta; the first four named of whom lived in Muléhsien, within the jurisdiction of Amichou. Before the murder, the two brothers, Tsao Ssi-siu, the elder brother and instigator of the murder, and Tsao Ssi-yi, the murdered man, were always supposed to be on friendly terms, having never shown any enmity against each other until about the tine of the murder. In 1876, Tsao the elder took his wife and son to live at a place called Chuyuan (Bamboo Plantation) leaving the ancestral acres among the hill land of Amichou to be cultivated by Tsao the younger and his wife, In May of last year (1892) owing to the deaths of his wife and sin at Chuyuan, Tsao Ssit-siu, the elder, returned to Ami-chou with the intention of dividing up the ancestral land and obtaining his own share of the property. This was refused by Tso Ssu-yi, the younger. On the 11th of Jan-ary of the present year, Tsao, the elder, again visited Amichou, for the purpose of getting a share of the money obtained from the late harvests by Tsao, the younger On this occasion Tsao Fu-shih, the wife of Tsao the younger, poured forth a lot of vituperative language reviling Tsao the elder, charging him with vagabondage and worthlessness, winding up her attack with a threat to kill this brother-in-law of hers, as a useless member of her husband's din. From this may be dated the beginning of Tsao the elder's hatred against his victim's family which finally resulted in their wholesale murder, sao the elder then returned to Miléhsien and complained of his ill-treatment to Tsao Sil-hsien, Tsao Ssit-an and Tsao Ssu-we (members of his clan) and Ch'én Ching-fang, (these four having been captured) and Tuan Chin-chuan, Chow Ts'ai and Fu Sino-ta, the last three being still at large. To these men the elder Tsao sppesled for aid and they being very indignant at the unfraternal conduct of the younger Tsao and his wife, which they considered: a little short of filial impiety, at once signified their willingness to assist the elder Tsao in any scheme he might have on hand to revenge himself for the affront he had received, and for what they conceived to be the younger Tsao's crime in encroaching upon his elder brother's property and heritage. On that same night it was agreed to march to the house of their victims, all of them being armed with either sword or pitchfork, with the sole exception of Tsao Ssu-we who went unarmed. Ch'én Ching-fang was the first to. enter Tsao Ssi-yi's room where he slept with his wife and sons, while the elder T'sao barred escape at the door armed with a pitchfork. Ch'én Ching-fang, Tsao Ssu-hsien, Tsao Ssi-an, Tsao Ssi-wd, Tuan Chin-chuan Chow Kai and Fu Siao-ta, seven in all, then rushed into the sleeping apartment of their victims and speedily despatched the younger Tsao and his wife Tsao Fu-shih, with repeated thrusts of sword and pitch: fork. Tsao Sil-we, however, scared at: the work of blood and being, moreover, unarmed, slouched out of the room as soon as the work of death commenced and remained a passive attendant during the murder, As soon as the younger 'T'sao and his wife were killed, T'uan Chin-chuan, Chow Ts'ai and Fu Siao-ta at once left the house and have not been heard of since. Just then, however, the two young sons of the younger Tsao commenced to ery out in fear, so that the elder Tso afraid that their cries would be heard by the neighbours gave orders that the two children should also be despatched. Whereupon Ch'én Ching-fang and Tsao Ssu-hsien returned to the room and with their swords and hooked pitchforks stabbed one child in the abdomen while the other received a gash on the left, part of the forehead. They both died of their wounds. After the work of death had been accomplished the party who had remained commenced to dig graves for their victims in the adjoining fields and this
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.